Peggy Whitson set new records by becoming the oldest woman on the International Space Station (ISS) and the oldest woman to do a spacewalk, but we think she should also add “the oldest woman to pull a prank in space” to her impressive resume.
The 57-year-old Nasa astronaut tweeted a photo of herself floating around in a white cargo bag that fellow astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet zipped her into.
Zipped inside a cargo bag @Thom_astro & @astro_kimbrough took me over to the Russian segment. They were quite surprised when I popped out! pic.twitter.com/om59WVfzwE
— Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) February 13, 2017
Whitson says the two astronauts then took the cargo into the Russian side of the ISS and gave their cosmonaut colleagues Andrey Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov and Oleg Novitskiy a surprise when she “popped out” of the bag. The space prank was met with approval from earthlings down on terra firma:
@AstroPeggy @Thom_astro @astro_kimbrough love this!!! ???
— Marirose Kuhlman (@MariroseKuhlman) February 14, 2017
@AstroPeggy @Thom_astro @astro_kimbrough Practical jokes in space should be a new series!
— KJHL (@karinlannon) February 14, 2017
@AstroPeggy @Thom_astro @astro_kimbrough That's lovely, it is the photo of the day!?? Thank you for sharing.??
— Edie (@I_We_Gaia) February 13, 2017
@AstroPeggy @SHasani61 @Thom_astro @astro_kimbrough ??so good to see you all having so much fun alongside your wonderful work ??
— Sue Robertson (@sue_robertson7) February 13, 2017
@AstroPeggy @Thom_astro @astro_kimbrough Practical jokes in space should be a new series!
— KJHL (@karinlannon) February 14, 2017
Although this isn’t the first time astronauts have pranked each other in space.Not so long ago, Scott Kelly chased Tim Peake around the ISS dressed as a gorilla:
Needed a little humor to lighten up a #YearInSpace. Go big, or go home. I think I'll do both. #SpaceApehttps://t.co/Ift8VdDR4C
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 23, 2016
Back in 2014, Chris Hadfield pretended aliens are aboard the space station as an April Fool joke:
I don't know what it is or what it wants, but it keeps repeating "Sloof Lirpa" over and over. Alert the press. pic.twitter.com/iuoeESMQwt
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) April 1, 2013
And who can forget that moment when the current crew at the space station pretended to be Superman?
Every crew takes a traditional “crew picture” together on @Space_Station. We gave it a new twist! #superpowers pic.twitter.com/hCcNPNenvF
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) January 30, 2017
Keep them coming folks!